New African Magazine 100 Most Influential Africans of 2017

The New African magazine has published its 100 Most Influential Africans of 2017. The list gives a fine blend of Africans who are making an impact on the continent and people of African descent who are also excelling in their respective fields.

The end of year compilation which the magazine started five years ago pools together persons who made news headlines in a particular year.

Personalities across thirty-one African countries made the list. Nineteen from Anglophone Africa and the remaining 12 from the Francophone side. The 2017 list also bridged the usually wide gender gap with 42 women (the highest since 2013) as against 58 men.

Nigeria produced personalities across each of the six broad categories under which the magazine did its classification.

The categories (number of personalities) are: Politics and Public Service (18); Business and Finance (18); Civil Society and Activism (8); Education (5); Science, Technology and Innovation (12); media (8); Arts and Culture (20); and Sport (11).